Alright! don’t infer that I was caught by a cop and I had to walk home with him to show him my passport and stuff 😛
For those who haven’t been in touch with me, I am in Tucson, Arizona doing my Masters in Computer Science at the University of Arizona.
It was a cool evening after classes – just the kind of evening you would like to walk home with a friend, discussing all sorts of crap (uleadin is perfect!).
Its about 2km from my department to home, so thats about a 20 minute walk. A few minutes into the walk, I met a cop who was going to a place near my house. We said “Hi” to each other and walked together the rest of the journey. He was pretty interested in talking to me because I am an Indian, someone new to talk to…..
Cop: So Arun. What do you study here?
Me: I do Computer Science.
Cop: Indian, right? I shouldn’t have asked 😛
Me: 😀
Cop: So how do you like Tucson?
Me: Its nice.. pretty laid back place. Its calm, and the best part is that here people drive sensibly and they stop for pedestrians crossing the road.
Cop: Well.. thats true, but Arun, let me tell you that most drivers are like that. They follow rules. There is always the driver who doesn’t want to. Its there everywhere in the world!
Me: I agree
Cop: So you got to look left and right before you cross
Me: Hmmm.. I thought roads here were so safe that I could cross without looking.
Cop: Ah! well… you come from India.
Me: Yeah! every Indian feels the same at first, is it? (I meant to say that after coming from a place like India, seeing such organized traffic, Indians cross roads without looking on either side)
Cop: Yep! Ours is not a country of Engineers like India.
Me: (WTF!!??)
Cop: Well.. in India, most of you are Engineers and you are pretty much educated and sensible. A larger fraction than the US. So, its pretty much natural that average Indian drives better than the average American.
Me: (haven’t you ever been to India?)
Cop: So, you got to understand roads in this country are not as safe as India. And if you drive, watch out for lane cutting. Be informed that if someone cuts a lane in front of you rashly, you have the right to complain.
Me: (Well.. I thought lane cutting was perfectly normal.. at least in India :D)
Cop: Also, people sometimes park a car by the side of the road.
Me: (Park ONE car by the side of the road!??)
Cop: So.. as you see, things are pretty dangerous here!
My Diary 
Hmmm, so US is not the way we think it is. And India is not the way how the Americans think it is… Right?
Praveen, you miss the point. Americans generally have no clue how the rest of the world is.
Really funny that the cop thinks people in India are educated/sensible. The part about everyone being engineers will become true in a few years the way things are going.
@PSP
Marc just hit the nail on the head!
@Marc
Brilliant comment! I heard that a new Engineering college has been established in Chennai within the time I came to the US! (2 months)
Arun, where did you hear such nonsense? It’s completely untrue. FOUR colleges were opened in that time.
Seriously, Americans have no idea how the rest of the World is!
And, how can he assume educated people drive better?
Education has nothing to do with these things. It’s a boolean entity. You either obey traffic rules or you don’t and get caught!Pure instinct and attitude!
And, BTW, parking ONE car on the road is something to mention about in the US?! One side of my road is lined with Engg college buses and the other side is lined with cars!
@Marc:
Dude, did you come across the news about some 20 more new colleges cleared by the AICTE recently?
I thought it was 20 more but not sure they were all opened in the time Arun went there.
That cop is awesome man. I like him, and I haven’t even met him.
@Uleadin
20!!???
@Marc
Why are people still opening Engg. colleges? Im sure the World has no more need for Engineers!
@George:
He told me to come over to the Police Station and talk to him anytime, about any information I might need! 🙂 nice guy!
It’s a highly profitable business! You can get lakhs and lakhs as capitation fees (black money).
[…] joke! 225 Engineering colleges all teaching electrical, computer science, making foreigners think wrong about us. Where is India headed!!?? Oh.. this second mistake as […]
Haha. Good post. I agree with the cop. What he said was true. Arun, you’ve forgotten all about India so soon? Very bad!
@Sundar
Yep.. Me American!